The Blanket Fort

Someone just asked me how I manage to stay so happy all the time.

( Trying to avoid stroking out before I'm even forty.... )I have to remind myself of that today, even when I feel like my heart's breaking.  Depression isn't going to do me any good.  And life is too good and too precious to waste on despair. 

There's always something better around the corner.  I believe that.  I really do. 

I missed out on summer here and it occurs to me that I actually live in a country where I can have access to THIS:



Yes.  I can go to a place that looks like this.   There are a few beaches that are just a couple of hours' drive from Manila that look like THIS and I can get to them.  Even if I have to take a freakin' bus to do it.  Maybe I ought to drag my Mommy Duck here for her birthday.

It occurs to me that this picture is missing shirtless Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan (or Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams).  Damn.  This is when I'm reminded I live in the Philippines and not Hawai'i.  The lack of AOL and Scotty is terrible.  Terrible, I tell you.

Yes, this is a shameless bid to my f-list to give me linkage to AOL and Scotty pics.  Warn me if they're work-safe and please respond to the DW journal kthnx loveyouforever and inspire me to keep writing and end Sunlight.

Woe is me.   

Kurosaki Ichigo stared in bemusement at the fuzzy blue alien currently lying dedz on the couch. 

Naturally, she had to pick the couch - it was the most comfy place to be dedz in. 

The orange-haired shinigami finally couldn't help himself.  "What the HELL are we supposed to do now?  She's supposed to write about the whole vacation in Vigan thing!"

"I would imagine that we would have to do that for her," Kuchiki Byakuya remarked calmly. 

"How can you be so cool at a time like this?!"

"I expected that it would happen."

"You EXPECTED it?!"  Ichigo glared at the other man. 

The Kuchiki clan leader shrugged.  "Harry warned me she tended to do this.  Weren't you paying attention?"

"I was busy chasing after the Hollows at the Crisologo Museum, you dumbass!  And fat lot of help you were - your freakin' zanpakutou was just sitting there laughing his ass off the entire time!"

"Senbonzakura felt that you and Zangetsu were more than equal to the task at hand."  Byakuya's lips twitched just a little bit and Ichigo just knew the bastard was trying not to laugh.  

"Who knew Vigan would be freakin' HAUNTED?!!! I swear to Kami, the place is worse than Karakura!"

"It's a very old town, with homes dating back to the Spanish era.  That's centuries' worth of ghosts." 

Payback.  Ichigo had to get payback on his Significant Other, never mind if he looked completely adorable when he was being smug.  A convenient memory surfaced.  Ichigo gave him an evil grin.  "Yeah, I'm cool with doing the Hollow-hunting back in Vigan.  Especially since you had sunburn."

Byakuya's eyes narrowed. 

Ichigo's grin now resembled his Hollow's.  "You looked sooooo cute with those red cheeks of yours.  And Stitch made you wear that straw hat too.  Wandering around all those nice shops..."

There was a soft sound, almost a growl.  Ichigo almost had him.  Just a little bit more.

Ichigo dropped the final bombshell.  "I have the pictures and I'm posting them up for the Shinigami Women's Association!"

Byakuya pounced. 

Stitch chose that moment to recover from her bout of The Dedz, took a look at the two very silly shinigami engaged in a .... er.... very energetic display of mutual affection on her living room floor and went back to being Dedz again. 

Bad mental images.  Very, very bad. 

:)   

... are easily the most entertaining thing I've seen in ages.  I'm not American, therefore, I can't vote, (although I kinda liked Hillary in the beginning of the whole campaign thing) - however, let's face it, folks - the Man who sits in the Oval Office will affect my world, like it or not.   Hopefully, he'll be a catalyst for change and change for the better.  

All right, if I could vote, I'd vote for Obama.  I'd been leaning towards McCain at first and then I was totally turned off by the same old b.s. and the classic tactics of mudslinging and fear the unknown that has been Done To Death. I know a trapo when I spot one.   Hell, they've been ruining....uh, running my country for years!  Obama and his consistent line for genuine positive change won me over. 

You guys have absolutely no idea how hard I laughed over at the Sarah Palin $150,000 Wardrobe Gate story. We've got politicians over here who've been doing the same thing for AGES - Imelda Marcos and her gazillion shoes easily the most recognizable figure in the world for this. And then, there was the whole traditional mudslinging bit, highlight easily being the "Let's Be Afraid of the Freakin' Black Arab Muslim Guy who Associates (GASP!) With Terrorists."

Oh, the humanity!

Oh the horror.

We Pinoys have always thought of America as sort of The Promised Land - why do you suppose there's so many of us emigrating over there? We know America is not perfect and yet the dream of a better life, if not in this land, then in others, still beckons us.

Right now, I live in a country where my President granted clemency to a known killer, Claudio Teehankee Jr. This is a man who simply went and cold-bloodedly shot a young beautiful girl Maureen Hultman and her companion Roland John Chapman. They were not armed, they were not doing anything to him. Popular gossip has it that Teehankee had a serious jones for Maureen and he was pissed when she didn't return his dubious affections. He's supposed to be serving two life sentences for his crime. In style and comfort even in jail, people. 

But the President of the country I lived in, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, released him. The commentary that followed said that "well, she released Erap." Whatever we want to think about former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada and the charges laid at his door, none of them included the cold-blooded killing of two innocent people just out of the blue. This whole Teehankee debacle is just a massive WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Maybe that's the real reason I'm so entertained by the American Presidential Elections. I need a little more hope, even if that source of hope is in another country.

I had to do it. This had to be recorded for posterity.

This is what my Mom told boyfriend-less (and happy to stay that way) me today:

"Oh duckling? I've just found the place where we can buy your wedding dress!"

My Response:

a. Falls off chair.

b. Flails.

c. WTF?????!!!!!

d. Dies

Yes, I've now heard about Deletegate 2007 - more people have eloquently expressed their disgust and dismay and whatnot.  

All I can say is this:




BTW:  Hey, larochka173!  I got the books! Please see me settling down with Sebastian first.  Heee!
Thank you!!!!!!  *sends hugs and love your way*

Dear CNN and The Rest of the World:

I'm sure that you guys were incredulous at the apparently positive/supportive reactions of certain Filipinos during the hostage situation the day before yesterday, in which a 56 year old civil engineer held 32 little schoolkids hostage on their school bus for 10 hours, on a hot summer's day, when they were supposed to be going on a field trip. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/28/world/main2618090.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2618090

Feel free to check the link.  In any case, the guy claimed he had the very best of intentions and was "fighting for the kids" so they get a free education and a better future and decent housing and all that wonderful gobshite that our politicians keep promising us but never give. 

GIVE. ME. A. FUCKING. BREAK. 

Okay, fine, he had apparently good noble intentions.  I'm a FILIPINO and folks, if one of MY kids were on that bus, held by a guy who should be a certified nutcase and had a gun and grenades in his possession - I would want the law to descend like the Wrath of God on him.  I don't care if this will get my kid to college - HE STILL PUT THOSE KIDS IN DANGER.  Granted, the grenades were fakes, but who the hell knew that at the time?  What if the grenades were real and he'd dropped them?  What if some trigger-happy police officer jumped the gun and those kids got shot at by accident?  What if HE jumped the gun and managed to shoot a kid by accident?

HELL, YEAH, MAYBE the politician-negotiators involved are going to follow through on their promises of education and all that but what if any of the kids had been killed?  Could Mr. Jun Ducat replace those precious lives for their parents?  Can any amount of money bring a child back to life, a kid who should by rights be just playing and watching cartoons and be safe and loved by their parents?

And he's had a history of doing this BEFORE, for Chrissakes!

Think about it - there's a reason why IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO SAY THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS. 

This was precisely the sort of thinking a certain German leader had when he said he wanted a better life for his country, to lead it to greatness.  His solution?  Oh, why not just send a certain group of people with different ethnic/religious beliefs to the gas chambers because it was ALL THEIR FAULT that the country was going to hell in a handbasket.

This was precisely the sort of thinking a certain more recent Infamous Most Hated Man in the World had when he said he wanted to strike a blow against the Great Satan/the evil imperialist  - whatever stupid rhetoric fanatics are using against the US, its allies and whoever else they think is against them.  Strike a great blow for the good guys, bring the evil corrupt decadent West down etc.  His solution?  Oh, why not hijack a couple of passenger airliners and run them into a pair of skyscrapers, never mind if INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE. 

So no, I do NOT condone Jun Ducat's actions.  I am disgusted and appalled and sickened by them.  If he genuinely wants to help his fellow Filipinos, if he wants to point out the crap state of our country and get us Filipinos moving to make it better - he should do it the RIGHT WAY - without involving the endangerment of innocents, especially children.   And I am praying that our politicians don't take it into their heads to make this some sort of publicity stunt to get them elected.  I'm also praying no one else over here gets it into their heads to try and pull the same stunt. 

Justice should be done. 

I will not say I am ashamed to be Filipino at this moment.  Rather, I'm gonna hold my head up high and say what's gotta be said.  Somebody has to. 

Darth Stitch